City Of Lost Souls | Page 8

much.�
�Sorry. I can see why you wouldn�t.� Helen flushed. Her skin was very pale, with a slight sheen to it, like a pearl. �I voted for the Council to
keep prioritizing the search for Jace, by the way. I�m sorry we were overruled.�
�Thanks.� Not wanting to talk about it, Clary turned to Aline. �Congratulations on your mother being made Consul. That must be pretty
exciting.�
Aline shrugged. �She�s busy a lot more now.� She turned to Isabelle. �Did you know your dad put his name in for the Inquisitor position?�
Clary felt Isabelle freeze beside her. �No. No, I didn�t know that.�
�I was surprised,� Aline added. �I thought he was pretty committed to running the Institute here�� She broke off, looking past Clary.
�Helen, I think your brother is trying to make the world�s biggest puddle of melted wax over there. You might want to stop him.�
Helen blew out an exasperated breath, muttered something about twelve-year-old boys, and vanished into the crowd just as Alec pushed
his way forward. He greeted Aline with a hug�Clary forgot, sometimes, that the Penhallows and the Lightwoods had known each other for
years�and looked at Helen in the crowd. �Is that your girlfriend?�
Aline nodded. �Helen Blackthorn.�
�I heard there�s some faerie blood in that family,� said Alec.
Ah, Clary thought. That explained the pointed ears. Nephilim blood was dominant, and the child of a faerie and a Shadowhunter would be a
Shadowhunter as well, but sometimes the faerie blood could express itself in odd ways, even generations down the line.
�A little,� said Aline. �Look, I wanted to thank you, Alec.�
Alec looked bewildered. �What for?�
�What you did in the Hall of Accords,� Aline said. �Kissing Magnus like that. It gave me the push I needed to tell my parents� to come out
to them. And if I hadn�t done that, I don�t think, when I met Helen, I would have had the nerve to say anything.�
�Oh.� Alec looked startled, as if he�d never considered what impact his actions might have had on anyone outside his immediate family.
�And your parents�were they good about it?�
Aline rolled her eyes. �They�re sort of ignoring it, like it might go away if they don�t talk about it.� Clary remembered what Isabelle had said
about the Clave�s attitude toward its gay members. If it happens, you don�t talk about it. �But it could be worse.�
�It could definitely be worse,� said Alec, and there was a grim edge to his voice that made Clary look at him sharply.
Aline�s face melted into a look of sympathy. �I�m sorry,� she said. �If your parents aren�t��
�They�re fine with it,� Isabelle said, a little too sharply.
�Well, either way. I shouldn�t have said anything right now. Not with Jace missing. You must all be so worried.� She took a deep breath. �I
know people have probably said all sorts of stupid things to you about him. The way they do when they don�t really know what to say. I just
�I wanted to tell you something.� She ducked away from a passer-by with impatience and moved closer to the Lightwoods and Clary,
lowering her voice. �Alec, Izzy�I remember once when you guys came to see us in Idris. I was thirteen and Jace was�I think he was twelve.
He wanted to see Brocelind Forest, so we borrowed some horses and rode there one day. Of course, we got lost. Brocelind�s impenetrable. It
got darker and the woods got thicker and I was terrified. I thought we�d die there. But Jace was never scared. He was never anything but sure
we�d find our way out. It took hours, but he did it. He got us out of there. I was so grateful but he just looked at me like I was crazy. Like of
course he�d get us out. Failing wasn�t an option. I�m just saying�he�ll find his way back to you. I know it.�
Clary didn�t think she�d ever seen Izzy cry, and she was clearly trying not to now. Her eyes were suspiciously wide and shining. Alec was
looking at his shoes. Clary felt a wellspring of misery wanting to leap up inside her but forced it down; she couldn�t think about Jace when he
was twelve, couldn�t think about him lost in the darkness, or she�d think about him now, lost somewhere, trapped somewhere, needing her
help, expecting her to come, and she�d break. �Aline,� she said, seeing that neither Isabelle nor Alec could speak. �Thank you.�
Aline flashed a shy smile. �I mean it.�
�Aline!� It was Helen, her hand firmly clamped around the wrist of a younger boy whose hands were covered with blue wax. He must have
been playing with the tapers in the huge candelabras that decorated the sides of the nave. He looked about twelve, with an impish grin and
the same shocking blue-green eyes as his sister, though his hair was dark brown. �We�re back. We should probably go before Jules destroys
the whole place. Not to